UConn Dental School professor using 3D printer to make PPE

Contributed Dr. Sergio Sanchez Velasco models a face shield made through the 3D-printing process to help protect dental residents and other healthcare workers from coronavirus exposure.

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By Greg Bordonaro

Amid the state’s personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage, a UConn School of Dental Medicine faculty member is using 3D-printer technology to fabricate respirators and face shields for dental residents seeing emergency dental patients.

Currently, UConn School of Dental Medicine residents are seeing patients on an emergency basis and have been using disposable PPE and working to extend the life of the equipment, UConn Health said.

Dr. Sergio Sanchez Velasco, assistant professor and program director of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency program, is using 3D printer technology and reusable materials to make the respirators and face shields.

Dentists are in a high-level exposure group because of their closeness to patients’ mouths, UConn said.

“There is a lack of PPE for providers and my intention was to start working on them and make them as an alternative in case we run out of resources,” Sanchez said. “We also need high-level protection and follow all CDC recommendations.”

Sanchez and resident Dr. William Garcia have been working together to research the materials, designs and filtration systems needed to create the masks and face shields.

They have been able to create a handful of reusable prototypes using the 3D printers that are typically used for routine digital dentistry work, UConn said.

While Sanchez and Garcia have figured out the design of the mask, they are still working on the filtration system to ensure the masks have the effectiveness of an N95 respirator mask, UConn said.

Meantime, Sanchez and Garcia have identified a face shield model that works well on the dental school’s 3D printer, but they’re still waiting on supplies, which are not expected to ship for another two weeks amid high demand.

Sanchez said he still hopes to be able to produce enough respirators and face shields for the dental emergency department and have enough left over to supply other areas at UConn Health.